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Raja Bhaiya meets Yogi Adityanath, sparks buzz about 2019 alliance
The meeting comes ahead of a rally by Raja Bhaiya on November 30 – the day he will complete 25 years in politics – when he is likely to announce the launch of his new political party.
Independent legislator and former cabinet minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya’s met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday amid speculations he might support or contest the Lok Sabha election next year in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The meeting comes ahead of a rally by Raja Bhaiya on November 30 – the day he will complete 25 years in politics – when he is likely to announce the launch of his new political party.
Raja Bhaiya’s last meeting with Adityanath after the Rajya Sabha election, which was held in March this year, had led to similar speculations that the Kunda MLA might join hands with the BJP and could be made a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. Raja Bhaiya had supported the BJP candidate in the polls to the Upper House.
A close aide of Raja Bhaiya, however, said the two leaders did not discuss any political issue during the meeting that lasted 20 minutes.
The aide, who did not wish to be named, said Raja Bhaiya talked about issues regarding his assembly segment in Kunda in Pratapgarh and also drew the attention of the chief minister towards an alleged fake case registered against a person from his constituency.
A scion of royal Bhadri estate, Raja Bhaiya was a minister in the governments led by Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh. After Mayawati took over as the chief minister in 2003, she slapped the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against Raja Bhaiya.
He was sent to jail and after his release, he again became a minister in the Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav governments.
He had to resign after the murder of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Zia-ul-Haq in Kunda and was re-inducted after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cleared him in the case.
